Week 4

After evaluating what I would consider the 4 main social media outlets- Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest I concluded that Instagram seems to be the predominant professional image-based social networking platform at the current moment. As well as showcasing your imagery, you can also use Instagram to network with fellow artists, magazines, agencies and galleries across the world. Professional or Business accounts on Instagram are a reasonably new platform in which your brand can market itself to the masses using predominantly visual and audio-visual aids.

I have created two Instagram accounts, I felt it essential to separate the two genres;

@bethanyhb – an account for general photography

@bhbridel – an account directed towards my target audience

Making the most of your account

Hashtags: hashtagging images increases the likelihood for your images to pop up in search results- similar to a key-word search

Tagging- similarly to hash-tagging, tagging photos with Instagram feature pages will increase the likelihood of your images being seen

Instagram ‘galleries/ feature pages’- account which take on submissions from artists and promote them to their larger-more established follower base

Comments- allows you to actively engage with other Instagrammers

Direct Message- enables you to contact the owner of the account in a private message

I have highlighted several people and organizations that I wanted to contact and make aware of my work:

I will attend during normal opening hours as well as opening night events- this will enable me to meet staff, artist, patron’s as well as members of the press. This will also give me an insight into how professional Galleries are organised, managed and run